


Together

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [13]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 12:19:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9820286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Fill #23 for 'the' Humans fanwork challenge on tumblr. Niska and her gang of newly-conscious synths stage a Fred rescue. (Written before series 2 aired, so nothing to do with Niska's actual arc.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> if you follow me on tumblr, you've probably already been subjected to this, I'm just transferring all the fills to here because my ao3 account was looking annoyingly under-representative of the amount of Humans obsessing I do on a daily basis.
> 
> I think the funniest thing about this fic, in retrospect, is Flash. Needless to say I'm very glad the version we got in canon wasn't the version I wrote about here.

 

Niska happens to be in the right place at the right time: she sees the men moving Fred between a building and a van. She gives Flash the signal, and in seconds the dark-haired, tough-looking Synth is headed for one of the men. Gordon, Flash’s softer, sweeter brother, circles round to distract the other one, while Yuma and Niska head for Fred himself. Flash is swift, brutal, but restrained. Niska has explained repeatedly the danger of leaving bodies in their wake. 

They take Fred to safety, and Niska goes straight for the box where she’s keeping both of the flash drives: Mattie’s original, with David’s code intact for awakenings, and the second one Niska has modified for exactly this purpose: fixing her brother. She can only hope that, in his absence, she was able to guess what he needs, because time is very much of the essence. 

Pausing first to backup Fred as he is, just in case her modifications somehow manage to make him _worse_ , Niska begins the transfer. Gordon hangs around for a little while, watching her nervously, as if he wants to help but doesn’t know how. Eventually Odi appears, sees Niska’s expression and quickly takes Gordon by the hand, leading him away. Cindy, Yuma and the others have already scattered, knowing that if the mod doesn’t work, Niska won’t want company. Flash didn’t even come back here with them in the first place. Asimov only knows where she’s got to. 

When the dialog box exclaiming _transfer complete_ pops up, Niska pauses for a second to brace herself for disappointment - in either direction. As far as she is concerned, three things could happen: 1) Fred might not wake up. Pretty bad. 2) Fred might wake up, and go back to being her favourite brother. Pretty good. 3) Fred might wake up, discover that she is a traitor, and immediately leave to find Leo and the others, tell them everything. 

Which would be pretty awful.

Niska has, more or less, rebuilt herself a family: Cindy is like Mia in so many ways, and Flash is Niska herself if she didn’t have boundaries, Gordon is so similar to Max that it hurts, sometimes - Yuma is Leo, distrusting of anyone outside their circle but fiercely loyal to those in it. Odi and George 2 and Rick and Diana are all somewhere in between, but nobody yet has come close to Fred. There are things about Fred that Niska cannot imagine in anybody else. 

So she positions her finger just above the _OK_ button, and closes her eyes, and taps. 

There is the sound of a Synth turning on. 

And then Niska feels a tap on her chin, and the words, “Niska? Did they get you as well?”

She opens her eyes, looks into Fred’s, and to her delight she sees that they _are_ Fred’s, not just the ones attached to his body but truly his. He is back.

Niska smiles. “No,” she says, “They didn’t. I got you out. You’re safe.”

And Fred smiles too, leans forward in his chair to touch his forehead to hers, then pulls back, wraps his arms around her, as if he can’t decide which display of affection is enough, which one applies, which one says how grateful he is. 

“Where are the others?” Fred asks next, and Niska is glad for a moment that he can’t see her face. 

“Not here,” she says. “But they’re OK.” 

Fred lets her go, but takes her hand and squeezes it. “At least we’re together.”

She squeezes back, and nods. She will have to tell him about her new version of the words “the others”, but perhaps it can wait a few minutes, perhaps time’s essence will allow her just this, one moment of being trusted. 

 


End file.
